Inconsiderate Drivers (share your stories, etc.)

Comments

best wishes for good fortune and safety in the future - glad you made it through the accident/near-miss/everything, MrShift - I hope everyone involved was fortunate and OK somehow.

indeed there is an emotional reaction since we are human drivers - especially if current drivers cause reaction to previous incident. this happened to me also through friends' tragedies a couple decades ago.

best wishes for safety out there folks.

safety on road is the really top #1 thing to be considerate about out there, each according to one's ability to consider !

Lady Justice was originally not blindfolded, it was a latter adaption (hm, wonder who paid to have the statute redone? Sounds like Swiss bankers). (Wiki)

She's balancing the scales of truth and fairness, and doesn't seem to have any issue with the fairness of our progressive tax code. So I think an argument can be made for a sliding scale fine structure.

Today I am on a 35mph 4 lane arterial with a center turn lane divided by low concrete barriers at designated turn spots. A little ways up, a Sonata makes a free right turn, wobbles and swerves real wide, and heads for the barrier - I was certain it was either going to hit the barrier or go into the oncoming lane, and I slowed down to avoid the shrapnel. At the last second, the "driver" veers off his crash course, and starts heading up the left lane, going about 25. I reach him and start to pass, going no more than 40. Lo and behold, this gets him to hit the gas, and by the time my front window is at his front end, he's hitting the gas hard. I lay on it enough to downshift, he gives up around 45-50, and he backs off. WTH? Such typical passive-aggressive crap for this area. Should have called him in as a suspected drunk, but I think he was just eating behind the wheel.

Well, actually two. I rolled up to a red light this afternoon and was the 3rd car in line. I was in the "left" lane, with one vehicle between me and a Ford Exploder that was straddling between that lane and the dedicated left turn lane. There was also a decent queue forming in the right lane, even though it runs out just a couple hundred yards past the light.

On the left arrow (thankfully others came up in the left turn lane to trigger it) the Exploder made his left turn, and my lane edged up accordingly, so I was then alongside a Dodge Durango. The getaway was a bit slow in both lanes when the light turned green. I might have had a nose on the Durango, but not much room in front of me because the car ahead of me let the first right-lane vehicle merge in front of him. As soon as that happened, the guy in the Durango gassed it up just enough to pull clear of my front bumper, and then helped himself to the spot in front of me... NO SIGNAL... ON THE BRAKES! I laid on the horn, braked, and cheated over into the center-left-turn (aka suicide) lane. And then he brake-checked me again!

Of course, in my current post-bike-wreck condition, my sole option had he chosen to escalate things would have been to trick him into getting out of his vehicle, and then bailing at a high rate of speed, running him over if necessary.

I got to honk a few times this morning. First time, wide 6 lane arterial where a highway exits onto it. An Acura TL enters the arterial from the exit ramp (and he's still going 40 in a 30)~, cuts across three lanes aiming for the far left lane, where I already am. Phone to his ear - which he drops just as I hit the brakes enough to feel the ABS engage.

Then get behind a woman I won't describe in an Accord going about 15-20 in a 30, who brakes, then signals, then gets into a turn lane. Don't tip that thing over!

Then on another big arterial, posted at 35 with a center turn lane. I am going the speed limit, left lane, a lifted F150 pulls out of a parking lot to my left and heads toward the center lane - which is fine as it is legal to pull out and wait to merge here. But, he doesn't wait, he just cuts over toward me, and fast. I honk, and he swerves back. I could see a kid in the passenger seat pointing out the car (me) he almost hit. After I pass and he merges, he drives pretty fast, just to get stuck in a turn lane backup. Time for license endorsements for these vehicles.

To the dopes on the road here, I also think my car looks like a beige Corolla or something - invisible. Is a bright white car with a black top and bight LED running lights that hard to see?

I hate people that accelerate from stoplights at a snails pace or merge onto freeways at dangerously low speeds because they don't have the muscle or brain power to press the throttle.

I got some joy yesterday coming home from work when someone did the opposite of dawdling from a stoplight. At a two lane left turn at a signaled intersection, when the light turned green, I was in the inside lane and accelerated briskly to say the least (that's my style). I was impressively passed by the 911 to my right taking the outside 90 degree turn left before the intersection was even completed by me.

You need to visit Seattle, especially the eastside suburbs. This area has by far, the slowest highway mergers I have ever seen. It's a rare day when you hit a wide open 60mph road at more than 45. Note to the timid and/or inept - when a 50 year old Mercedes is close on your tail, you're going too slow.

Something else irksome is on city streets, where local "drivers" floor it off the line, but run out of steam around 30-35, even if the limit is higher.

Maybe it could be twisted into a "stand your ground" defense. In some areas anyway.

Had a pretty easy commute today, didn't see anything worse than a person who I let change lanes in front of me then dawdle at a crawl. Noticed the usual tons of phone holders while I was on foot though. I suppose why not, no enforcement to be seen.

Driving on a one lane in each direction 30mph suburban street, turn lane in the middle. On the left I see a Sportage wanting to turn left out of a parking lot, and it slowly crawls out towards the center lane (legal to use it as a merging lane here). I let off the gas just a little, fearing the "driver" will just blindly come on over. Lo and behold, it happens - I hit the brake hard, lay on the horn hard, and miss her by a couple inches. I've said it a million times, time for license endorsements for any vehicle that sits high and has isolating visibility that encourages distraction. Probably some inherent issues with the "driver" too, but I will refrain in order not to offend the bleeding hearts.

Otherwise, pretty easy going here the last couple days, other than inherent slowness. Took a ~200 mile highway drive yesterday, few LLCs, a few more MLCs, and a Canadian bus that was going 70mph in a 60.

I don't think you have a right to go super slow (below slow limit) on the freeway exit lane just because the speed of traffic is low to the left. Campers in the left lane should not lower the speed limit in the right lane; traffic allowing of course.

On foot this morning, see a woman in a rental Altima make a dumb left turn out of a hotel parking lot, mobile device in hand, completely distracted. She pulls into a left turn lane about a block ahead, and stops for the blinking yellow turn light (no oncoming traffic). Civic comes up behind her and honks, which wakes her up - but by that time they both miss the light. And where is the enforcement? A couple blocks down the road, where it is downhill - speedtrapping. Serve and protect! Saw numerous other phone holders out there too, but I guess the "servants" know what is best.

speaking of ill allocated enforcement, was on the 125 North and 125 South going from La Mesa to Santee and back yesterday.

On the way up my radar detector goes off and sure enough there's a CHP guy standing up outside and alongside his car with a big radar gun just after an upper ridge on the downhill slope.

This 125 freeway section is the least congested freeway in San Diego County, and hence, the 65 MPH speed limit is absurdly low.

20 minutes later, I'm on my way back down 125 South, and I tell my Wife no way he's in the same spot as he wouldn't waste 20 minutes generating revenue. My radar detector goes off, I'm about to eat my words, but then he's on the other side of the freeway now doing the same thing.

This time he's more visible because it's a long downhill stretch on the other side. Radar detector saw him before we could see each other though. I'm sure he just ticketed someone on the other side, took the next off ramp to turn around and set up camp.

On the freeway which needs the least amount of enforcement in all of San Diego County.......

You probably see that more in the latter half of the month, too. But if you ask, there's no such thing as quotas! It's all about protecting and serving. Thank heavens they do this for our own good. Think of the children!

I think my efforts to "teach people a lesson on the road" while risky, has paid off dividends over my having lived in San Diego the last 11 years. Based on Fintails posts, I'd go ballistic driving up there, but down here it's much better.

if you have a radar/laser detector, you can time your acceleration (PUNCH IT!) to always be inbetween the "pings" from the rangefinding-laser or radar-based "cruise-control", causing the following luxo-vehicle's to constantly adjust between accelerating or decelerating, possibly resulting in the luxo-passengers spilling grey poupon.

Driving home tonight, insane traffic, which happens more often on Thursdays of late. Saw two big annoyances - pacers. Not the cars, but the idiots. First one - middle aged woman in a big burgundy F150 4x4 that she probably can't drive very well. She was going a little slower than me as I approached on the left (4 lane arterial, moderate traffic), then matched my speed for about a mile. What? Not long after, got behind a group of oldsters in a gold ES with gold emblems varying speed by ~10mph for no reason, and braking too much. I mercifully get around it, and a couple blocks later it matches my speed and even tries to pass, for reasons unknown. I live in zombieland.

When you are in the far right (slow lane) on a 4-6 lane highway, and a car from an entrance or merging lane is accelerating towards the point at which you will be in roughly 1-3-4 seconds, what do you do? Slow down to let him merge? Speed up so he can merge? Or, maintain your speed so that the merging car can either slow down or speed up to merge? My problem is with drivers who expect you to make the adjustment, and just keep sliding over until you almost collide. I'll slow down and let you merge in if I can, I won't slam on my brakes or stomp on the gas. You make the adjustment!Can I get an Amen on that people?